Living in the USA: 1970 vs 2020, better or worse?

It's weird how superb the music was from 1960 to 1980 was.

Sticky Fingers and Tapestry are awesome.

The killer album perhaps of all time came out that year as well:

 

I wasn't alive then, but it looks like some important things were a lot easier back then.

How Home Prices and Household Incomes Changed Since 1960 | Clever Real Estate (listwithclever.com)

 

I think so, but then it always is.
The Romans complained about disrespectful kids.

 

http://www.politicalforum.com/index...-2020-better-or-worse.589818/#post-1072763924

The Mighty Zeppelin is what I intendddddeeeedddd to tytttppppee, hahaha. Spelling abn tpying skucs....

 

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Much better in 1970... unless drafted to Vietnam.

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Before my time but I remember the '80s as a much simpler place

 

That's crazy. Reminds me of this incredible Zep cover,

 

One of my very few real life friends lives in Reno. We had been out of touch for several years when I was fortunate enough to reconnect and took him up on his offer to come out and check out the High Sierra Music Festival. As it turns out it was the last one held in Bear Valley and has since been held in Quincy. Oh My F'g God. What an amazing experience that was. Another one of our mutual besties and his future wife showed up as well and we met them around midnight in a meadow at about 7000 ft with stars overhead and Dr. Didg finishing the last show of the evening on the opening night.

That began about a half decade of all of my vacations consisting of heading West to the Sierras for music festivals. I was fortunate enough to see the original lineup of Umphrey's McGee at a late night hsmf gig at Quincy in 2001. Blew my mind. I have seldom seen anything that stunned me as much as the jam they threw down at that moment in time. It was all about the sax and it was amazing, and they even set it up with this insane theatrical performance. The band finished a song and then the front man took to the mic to announce that the band had a buddy who he asked us to indulge because he was kinda new and a beginner but a good friend who wanted to play a few notes with the band on his sax. The crowd was kinda like, wait, what - ok let's keep this party going! And then the dude on the sax came out and started whiffing discordant notes like you will hear if you ever have the opportunity to check out Coltrane's Interstellar Space album. This went on for about 2 minutes, give or take a minute or two. It was horrible. The crowd was getting annoyed. But then, magically, somehow the sax hit a few nice notes just as the boos were getting ready to start. Then a few more discords. The crowd again on the edge of boos. Then a few more sweet notes with another slight amount of discord. And then they blew it wide open with one of the most amazing sax jams I've ever seen in my life. No, it is the most amazing live in person sax jam I've ever seen in my life, hands down.

Another festival that I attended in the Sierras was the Strawberry Festival that was held at Camp Mather for many years. This was another equally amazing festival. I think it was the very first time I went to this that there was a full moon and me and my bud from Reno, set up camp after having arrived a bit late in the day. Having finished setting up we decided to do a little walk about across a meadow toward another camp that had some lights on. Along the way walking across this meadow with a full moon we came across the camp of a lone dude with a tent and stopped to chat. He asked us if we played and we both said no, do you? And he said that he played the fiddle a little and asked us if we'd like to listen to one of his favorite fiddle tunes. Absolutely we replied. Holy S. I don't think we saw that guy again the entire weekend, but I will never forget that performance for two, me and buddy from Reno. He played his variation of a tune called O'Carolan's Farewell. I have searched many times to find a version of this tune and have never found anything close to the incredible version that an AMD material scientist from Hayward Ca dropped on me that night. It literally brought tears to my eyes. Not like when I lost my dog, but still really unexpected.

If you're into festivals and camping and you live in that area where it's easy to attend I highly recommend Strawberry Festival. The best music starts after the stage shows end. It has a bluegrass tone to most of it, but it is so awesome to hang out with folks that have such talent jamming at random camp sites until the wee hours of the night/morning. You'll likely find some camps playing blues bluegrass as well, minor cords and other sweet stuff.

 

Too say that the 70’s were so much worse than 2020 is lunacy, and historical illiteracy at its worst.

The OP mentioned Academia. We have the most illiberal secondary learning system in the world. I don’t throw around the Socialist terminology lightly, because most Americans on the left, and right don’t even understand what socialism is.
Academia is dominated by the left, so they are in fact responsible for turning learning institutions in to group think factories where students are coddled, and not challenged. I’m not saying most students but into this bullshit, but a loud rabid minority do, and it’s easy to portray them as the whole picture.

Next, the op states that there’s no drafted kids getting killed in Vietnam. Ok, and? Maybe he’s not aware that we have been in one conflict after another for 20 years. When I say we, I’m not talking about the country as a whole. The American public has been allowed to remain apathetic, because less than 1% of the total population has carried the burden of 20 years of America’s militarism. I guess it’s easy to not hold politicians accountable when it’s not your kid getting his legs blown off by a ied.

I was born at the end of the 70’s, so I don’t how much faith people had in American institutions, but it rightly feels like there’s little faith in them now, and rightfully so, since they have consistently failed Americans. Reagan era economics has completely gutted the safe guards that government was supposed to maintain to protect the little guy. Need proof, look at the housing crisis. Wall Street almost plunged the world into a deep depression. Not only were bankers bailed out, but not a single one was held accountable.

Free trade has gutted the middle of the country. When I was growing up, fast food jobs were for high school kids, and deadbeat semi adults in their 20’s.
Now it’s a career, for poor adults who will eventually be replaced by automation.

These examples mentioned are just the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issues we are now facing.

Next, kick rocks with this notion that Biden is some Eisenhower, or FDR. He’s just as much a corrupt corporate creature as Mitch McConnell.

It’s kinda of nonsensical to tell people that the 70’s were so much worse, when we are witnessing the decline of America in real time.

 

I don’t remember the 70s.

 

tedeschi trucks is incredible. don't miss allman betts either if they come by.

The Allman Betts Band - Magnolia Road (Official Music Video) - YouTube

 

I think all of that is correct except for the residents of large cities being scum. They are not scum but they are democrats primarily.

But there is an out of control authoritarian government leading us incompetently through a pandemic. We have a marxist, racist group being supported by business because they fear cancel culture. We have a year of riots in many major cities and and nightly riots for months in one of them. We have prosecutors refusing to prosecute people that would have been prosecuted in 1970. Every era has its pluses and minuses. I preferred 1970 personally. There wasn't nearly as much hatred as we have today.

No we don't. These are serious concerns.

While I personally do not support any of this spending you should realize that the republicans are willing to fund the infrastructure. They oppose adding what they view as unnecessary spending attached to the bill in the trillions of dollars. Personally I think the owners of infrastructure should fund its maintenance by I am in a minority as usual.

Neither. They are planning to replace us as the major planetary power.

 

Blame Pink Floyd, they showed the way

 

I just want to address one small point of your post for the moment about the infrastructure spending you're absolutely correct the op presented it as though Mitch McConnell's a bad man he's just standing in the way of this infrastructure repair well I'm sure they'd be glad to approve of the infrastructure repair if like you said it didn't have trillions of pork added to it I'm sure just as soon as they can propose a sane budget it will be approved by Republicans but the bridges might very well fall down and crumbling to dust before that happens cuz we know the Democrats sure do love them support and we've got to fund some gender studies in Nigeria or something probably. And it's hilariously hypocritical than any Democrat would complain about obstructionism after these last four years

 

I think both parties use federal spending to attract votes. But this bevy of bills is really over the top. Senseless really. They should find smarter ways to buy votes. It isn't that hard to figure out.

 

I think people who weren't around then don't realize the destructive power Vietnam had on people's belief in the government....my parents, both raised dirt poor during the Great Depression, father spent the Pacific theater of the war in the shipyard in Pearl repairing Navy vessels, in short they both basically trusted the government and started out supporting the Vietnam War, but then for 10 years we would NIGHTLY watch the evening news and listen to Walter Cronkite give the day's body count. And as the years passed and I grew older their attitudes changed, and at 18 I got my number, but Nixon ended the draft (may his soul sit by the throne of God). Vietnam basically destroyed my parents faith in politicians, the military, and government in general, it also set me on the path of being a lifelong cynic, for better or worse.

 

The Middle Ages were much better - except for that whole plague thing ...

 

Old farts like us, we have other talents

 

Great post. Thank you. My ex and I always wanted to to go to the Quincy festival. We decided on other things each summer, the Grape Festival in Lodi one year (War), Big Blues Bender in Vegas a few years ago (tons of talent), Tedeschi Trucks in Sacramento, we toured northern CA one summer and saw a great local band from Hayfork at the Trinity County Fair but that was mostly a camping trip. The stellar's jays will practically eat out of your hand at Grizzly Creek. One grabbed a cigarette out of my pack and flew back to the branch with it. The ol' lady said "Drop that!" Funny as hell.

I invited my 82 year old mother to this festival in Carson. She loves blues, but I'm not sure how much she'll be able to handle. Coincidentally, she's a train buff and loves the old Virginia & Truckee RR. Should be fun. I'll see Kenny again, but I really want to see Larkin Poe. "The Allman Brothers little sisters." Those girls just ooze something...something real and honest. They look like, dress like and act like women I know, plus the talent. Lol.

Yes, Northern Nevada is a great place to live. The area has tripled in population since I moved here in '78, which I don't like, but wilderness is within view from anywhere in the city. You can hike to the top of Mt. Rose and see Lake Tahoe over one shoulder, Carson City in front of you and the Truckee Meadows over your other shoulder.

If you ever make it around here I'll buy you a beer. You like dive bars?

 

Thanks. Playing at the Crystal Bay Club at north shore in September. I have more tickets to buy now.

The influence of the Allman Brothers cannot be overstated. Indeed, like the band, it's understated. I kinda like that. Fitting for the blues.

One thing the blues is, is honest.
-- Tab Benoit (paraphrased, heard live)

One thing the blues ain't, is funny.
-- Steven Stills (IIRC from some album)

 

The thing that was overwhelming about the Boomers in the 70s is that we realized how big a group we were, and the power that came with it. We took that power and made our societies the way we wanted them to look (good or bad). There were new Universities being built to accomodate for the size of our population. Our parents' generation didn't see things that way, but they were also saddled with a very different world. I do think that the millenials are aware of their impact and power as well. But very often, it flies in the face of the kind of world we wanted/created, and we are often vilified for much of the ills today.

 

Growing up in the 60s and 70s I remember playing with friends - riding bikes, playing a pickup game of football, BB guns, climbing trees, and various forms of mischief, etc - great music and girls wearing mini-skirts.

I’m glad we had things like this to do rather than staring at an iPhone and obsessing over Facebook.